All in the Name of Love
by Hasuki-chan
Summary: After a frightening experience during the Christmas Special, Lelouch returns to save Nunnally from the dangers of the wild male students of Ashford Academy. How will he go about saving his dear little sister? And how many people will get caught up in his devious plans? Prepare for chaos as we enter the New Year in a flash of light and...colour smoke? UPDATED: - New Year's Special -
1. -Christmas Special-

**Summary: **Bells a' chiming and presents a opening. It's Christmas at Ashford Academy, but Lelouch is stuck doing the budget? Wait, something happened to Nunnally?! Lelouch hurries to save his sister from the dangers of the festive season, which are none other than...a picture with Santa? What is the meaning of this? Thank you for opening the wrapper and seeing what's inside!

**Genre: **Humor/ Parody.

**Theme: **Christmas &amp; Love

**Rating: **T

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Code Geass or any of the references that may or may not look familiar.

**ENJOY **and** Merry Christmas!**

* * *

_**All in the Name of Love - Christmas Special -**_

An easygoing atmosphere filled Ashford Academy. Most of the daytime students had returned to the mainland for the Christmas season, while those in the dorms who couldn't or didn't want to go home strolled and lounged about the campus. The symphony of their laughter and bids singing drifted into the student council room.

Lelouch was sitting at the table, his head resting on his left hand while he twirled a pen in his right. Piles of paper were stacked in front of him. Rivalz sat across from him, lying on his arms.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Rivalz asked for the umpteenth time.

"As I've already said numerous times; it can't be helped." Lelouch replied. "We have to do the budget to see if our incomes and our expenses balance. If not, we'll have to make adjustments to make up the money we're short. Knowing our president's love of grand, and therefore expensive events, that will certainly be the case."

"It is fine, isn't it?" Rivalz drawled "Just let the director pay whatever we're short and we're good to go."

"No, I doubt the director will be pleased with that. He and Milly are already fighting over the arranged marriage. We should not add debt on top of that."

"Ah~ah, what a shame." Rivalz gave an exaggerated sigh and continued lazily looking through the receipts of the routine maintenance work.

"Lelouch!" Shirley barged into the student council room, but Lelouch didn't so much as blink at the intrusion. That was the way she usually entered the student council room, after all.

"N~é Lelouch!" Shirley called again. Lelouch sighed. He knew that if he didn't react soon, Shirley would up her annoyance level to over 9000.

"What is it? You're loud." Lelouch shifted his eyes from the ledger in front of him to Shirley.

"So cold." Shirley pouted. "Anyway, just take a look at this!" After typing a few keys on her phone, she showed it to Lelouch.

"Okay." Lelouch took the phone from Shirley and stared at the screen. "This is…?" Lelouch's eyes widened and his face paled as he stared at the screen. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Hoh I've never seen Lelouch so surprised." Rivalz's interest was piqued. "What is it? Show me, show me!" Rivalz leaned over the table until he saw the telephone's screen.

After seeing the image displayed on the screen, Rivalz instantly understood Lelouch's distress. The image showed Nunnally dressed in a bright red and white Santa suit, complete with pointy hat and all.

"How cute" Rivalz remarked, but it was the wrong thing to say. A dark aura of anger formed around Lelouch. He was clearly giving off dangerous vibes, but his face was stoic as always.

"How dare they?" Lelouch asked in a low, very soft tone. He once more displayed his impressive self-control in managing not to shout. "Using my sister in an exploitative manner like this is unacceptable. Does the person who took this photo not have any integrity?" Lelouch stood up. A fire that could burn anyone who made eye-contact with him flared in his eyes.

Lelouch heard a suspicious sound coming from the lounge in the office. There. He heard it again. It sounded like a snort. Like someone desperately trying to hold in their laughter.

'_Oh, so this is a joke to you, hey?'_

"Milly." Lelouch said in a voice cold enough to freeze her and hell. With a stiff neck, Milly turned around to see the Lelouch towering over her like the final boss of a dungeon.

"Oh come now Lelouch," Milly tried to pacify her vice-president. "You don't have to be so angry about it. Whoever did this probably just wanted to treat the students who have to spend their festive season on this boring campus to something special."

Lelouch's glare was unwavering, and Milly felt herself crumbling under its weight. Milly felt that if she didn't do something quickly, she would give in to Lelouch's intimidation. Milly gave an awkward cough in an attempt to prevent her mouth from involuntarily saying something that could give her away.

However, the cough seemed to have done the complete opposite. The cough only confirmed Lelouch's suspicions. Upset, Lelouch raises his voice.

"Milly, I'm very disappointed in you. I can't believe you would use the innocent and the weak to your advantage like this."

"Eh?" Milly was confused. "What are you going on about? It's nothing that dramatic."

"But it is, president. Have you ever stopped thinking about what you want to do long enough to consider what will happen when lecherous men become infatuated with my sister's cuteness?"

"I…" Milly didn't know what to say. "I honestly don't think that that will be a problem."

"Of course you wouldn't, that's the point." Lelouch sighed. As expected of the president. She's as oblivious as ever. "I on the other hand will prevent this evil from carrying on any further. I will not allow my dear sister to be violated by perverted stalkers and moe-loving shut-ins." He vowed and swiftly walked to the door, muttering something about 'getting too old for this kind of trouble.'

"It sounds like fun to me! I'll help." Rivalz said and jumped of his chair.

"You only want an excuse to get out of work."

"What? Now way~!" Rivalz sang as he happily followed after Lelouch.

After Lelouch and Rivalz left the room, Kallen turned towards Milly. She was sitting on the opposite lounge from her.

"Hey president, are you really fine with Lelouch acting that way? He might kill somebody in that state, you know."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Milly laughed. "And yes, I am very satisfied with Lelouch's little performance. You can't get scenes like that it movies nowadays, you know!"

Kallen just sighed. Everyone on the council was just plain crazy today. "No comment."

"By the way Kallen, don't you think that Nunnally is just plain adorable with a Santa beard?"

"Ah? Well, sort of…" Kallen answered, fearing the true extent of the student council president's mischievous ways.

* * *

C.C. was reclining against the rail on top of the school building's roof. A light breeze flitted through her hair. She closed her eyes to the pleasurable feeling. Opening them, she saw a fast blue sky lay before her.

'_The sky's as annoyingly blue as always.'_ C.C. narrowed her eyes. _'It's like the sky is mocking me with its brightness. The sky is so indifferent, always so blue, no matter whether there's war or peace on earth.'_

"Oi Lelouch, wait!" Someone's shout and doors banging interrupted C.C.'s reverie.

"My, who's being so loud on a peaceful and quiet day such as this?" C.C. asked and looked down, just in time to see Lelouch stomping out of the building.

'_Lelouch?'_

"How can Milly expose my sister like that? How troublesome! Now what should I do? Oh, that's right! I can always use my Geass power to command everyone to forget how cute my sister looks." Lelouch mumbled.

'_What on earth is he talking about?' _C.C. wondered. Soon the one with the loud voice also ran out of the building.

"Wait up, Lelouch!" shouted Rivalz.

'_Hoh, Lelouch sure is energetic today. Wonder what's got him riled up like that? Whatever it is it's bound to be amusing.' _C.C. thought, not paying any attention to the fact that she's only curious because she hopes to use whatever upset Lelouch against him in the future to get under his skin.

* * *

In no time at all Lelouch approached the Academy's main hall. He came to a dead stop after seeing the long line of men, and some girls in between, extending to the outside of the building.

'_What is this madness?' _Lelouch thought, but didn't dare think that all these people were here for _that. That_ would be impossible right? Lelouch shoved his way past all the people and barged into the room. To Lelouch's annoyance, everyone was here for _that._

Beneath a giant Christmas tree, the likes of which only the Student Council President could think of, sat a young girl. She was dressed in a bright red and white Santa suit, complete with pointy hat and all. Yes, that girl was Nunnally. And on her lap sat…

"SUZAKU!" Lelouch charged forward and grabbed his surprised childhood friend of off his sister's lap. The pull however was nowhere near strong enough and only felt like a small tug. Though the shock was enough to make Suzaku lose his balance and attack the floor.

"What is the meaning of this, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked, rubbing the sore spot on his head, ungracefully laying among the presents.

"I could ask you the same thing! I didn't expect you of all people to use advantage of my sister like this."

"Wait it's not like that." Suzaku desperately try to pacify the seething Lelouch. "Nunnally herself said she doesn't mind being Santa for a day. In fact, she said she'd be happy too!"

That made Lelouch pause, if only slightly. 'That's a reasonable argument. I can certainly imagining my sister thinking that way. She's do anything to make others happy and prove herself useful in some way. However…

"That's not necessary, Nunnally has me, and she doesn't need to do anything but be happy." Lelouch shrugged off Suzaku's argument. Suzaku sighed.

"You can't keep doting on her forever like this, Lelouch. You have to let her do something on her own once in a while." Suzaku persisted.

"Still, something like this…" Lelouch looked at his sister to where she was readjusting her hat which fell off during Lelouch's dramatic rescue. Afterwards, she looked up to Lelouch, and smiled.

"Merry Christmas, big brother." She gave her best, sweetest smile, and all of the men's hearts in the room simultaneously went 'doki doki da-thump'. "Come here." She said, holding her hand out to him.

Lelouch, without realising, moved closer, and soon jumped into his sister's open arms, giving her a tight hug. Nunnally felt a bit smothered with love, but appreciated her brother's affection nonetheless.

Nunnally looked over at Rivalz, who had silently observed the scene for a while now. Nunnally winked towards the cell phone in Rivalz's hand, and it was then that Rivalz realised that he had left the student council room with Shirley's phone.

_'Lelouch will probably never forgive me for this, but at least Shirley will owe me a year's worth of favours for this.'_ Rivalz said as he positioned the phone's camera. After finding the perfect shot, he looked once to make sure that Lelouch wasn't looking, and pressed the shutter button.

*click*

Silence.

Rivalz looked up from the phone's screen. Nothing, Lelouch didn't notice the camera going off. _'Thank goodness,'_ Rivalz sighed in relied, _'I will live to see New Years.'_

"Alright big Brother, that's enough." Nunnally said, using what little strength she had to push him away.

"What's wrong, Nunnally?" Lelouch asked, concerned.

"Please go now." Nunnally said quietly and sweetly. "You are holding up the line."

'What?!" Lelouch turned to stone and cracked, about to shatter into pieces before regaining himself. "I don't have to. These people can leave. None of them needs to take photos of you, only I need to hold record of this event."

Nunnally pouted. Seeing her desperate situation, Suzaku, who has seen his classmate take the photo earlier, stepped in to help.

"Sorry Rivalz, would you lend that to me for a second?" Suzaku asked.

"Eh? Sure." Rivalz handed the phone to Suzaku, and he held it out to Lelouch.

"Hey, Lelouch. Look at this."

"What?" Lelouch was reluctant, but seeing the intense expression in Suzaku's eyes, gave in and took the cell phone from him. He raised his eyebrow from what he saw at the screen.

Suzaku counted down, waiting for _it. '3…2…1...' _

"What is this? This photo is so incredible adorable! I want to keep it…" Lelouch fawned over the photo in which he and his sister looked so happy together, enjoying the Christmas spirit and the bonds of family.

In the meantime, more and more of the guys got there turn taking a picture with Lady Santa.

"This will be my memento. No, it will be my inspiration. My inspiration for what I want every day to look like in the fate peaceful world that I will create."

One by one, the shutter went off without stopping.

"That's right." Lelouch continued his monologue. "We will live in a world rid of evil and bad men and…wait. Bad men?" A moment of silence before realisation hit Lelouch like an unexpected giant wave while swimming in the ocean. "Nunnally." Lelouch spun around and saw that there was only a mere three men left.

Clenching his fists, Lelouch berates himself for forgetting his initial purpose for coming here. No matter. It's not too late to save his sister from the hands of the few remaining perverted men. Taking a deep breath, Lelouch began his favourite catchphrase.

"Lelouch VI *sensors out* commands you all; forget Nunnally's cuteness and leave!"

Another moment of silence. It took a while, but Lelouch noticed that nobody saw his flourish of fabulousness. He sunk to the floor, depressed. "They didn't see. Nobody saw." He mumbled.

Suzaku was relieved he stayed behind. It wasn't for a situation like this, but he could still support his friend in this one. Suzaku walked up to Lelouch and kneeled down next to him.

Softly rubbing Lelouch's back, moving slowly up and down, he tried to soothe Lelouch with his voice. "It's okay, Lelouch." Suzaku whispered into his ear. "Don't worry; while you were out fawning over the photo, I made sure that no one indecently touched your dear sister." Suzaku imagined he heard a sob escape from Lelouch. Unable to do anything else, Suzaku hugged Lelouch. "Shhh."

"She's already grown so big."

"Yes, that's right, Lelouch. Girls grow big so fast it's shocking. Before you know it, Nunnally will have already become a fine woman, worthy of praise and respect, and able to capture any man's heart." Suzaku said dreamily, as if imagining it that second.

"…them all."

Suzaku heard Lelouch mumble something. "Hm? What did you say?"

In the next moment, Lelouch snapped. "I said I'll kill them all! I'll kill any and all men who go after my sister!"

"Like I said, it's not necessary to go that far." Suzaku said, frustrated that they've moved back to square one.

"Watch me, Suzaku. This New Year, all men whose thoughts stray when it comes to Nunnally will have to deal with me!"

"New Years? That soon?" Suzaku asked, flabbergasted.

"That's right. Good ears you have, Suzaku! I hope you perverted men have said your prayers, for this New Year, Lelouch shall protect his little sister at any cost."

"EH?!" Suzaku face palmed. This New Year was going to be a test of Suzaku's patience and sanity, which at this stage, he was losing fast. But, he will have to bear it. New Years is just around the corner, after all. And who knows what his mad childhood friend will do in the name of love?

_To be continued: All in the Name of Love –New Year's Special-_

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading, and please drop me a review if you enjoyed it! Happy hollies everyone :)


	2. -New Year's Special-

**Happy New Year &amp; welcome 2015! **Hope you all have a wonderful year filled with awesome times and even better reads! xD

**ENJOY!**

* * *

**All in the Name of Love – New Year's Special –**

*tap tap tap*

*pace pace pace*

"Young master, won't you please calm down?" Sayako asked desperately.

"No, I won't calm down. This is not a matter you can 'calm down' on." Lelouch replied coolly.

"But sir, you've been pacing up and down your room for the past week. See, there's already a path in the carpet showing exactly where you walked, stopped, turned, and repeated."

"It doesn't matter. It is proof of how hard I've been thinking about this matter."

"True, but you've also written so many ideas down on paper that you crumpled and threw away that the recycling company is asking you to be a permanent supplier of used paper."

"What was that?" Lelouch stopped dead in his tracks (finally). "I thought I told you to burn those papers. I explicitly remember ordering you to do so."

"It's such a waste though, sir. I'd much rather preserve the environment by recycling the paper than damage the environment by adding to global warming."

"Ever the conservative one," Lelouch sighed and then fell into a mini mumbling rant. "If only all the scum of the earth could be disposed of in the same way, like those ruling the oppressive Britannia system and closet perverts. No, recycling them would be bad, since they would only return, and not necessarily in a more environmentally friendly way."

"Sir?" Sayako asked, not comprehending what the Prince was saying at all.

"That's right, they should be burned!"

"HEE!" Sayako jumped in surprise at Lelouch's sudden exclamation. Lelouch spun around and placed his hands on Sayako's shoulders, and she froze.

"You're a genius, my trustworthy aid." Lelouch said happily. He let the stiff maid go and slid in behind his computer. Lelouch started typing, fingers flying over the keys. "Yes yes YES! With this, victory will surely be mine!"

Lelouch gave a maniacal devilish laughter, and Sayako could only hope that they'll live to welcome the New Year.

* * *

"Hey President, shouldn't we be worried?" Kallen asked. She and a few other members of the student council were busy decorating the club ballroom for the New Year's party that will be held that evening. However, they were all disturbed by the soft, maniacal laughter coming from Lelouch's quarters.

"It'll be fine." Milly said calmly. Kallen's eye twitched in annoyance at Milly casually brushing aside her worries.

"This is your entire fault, president. Can't you at least act a bit guiltier?"

"Act? Now why would I have to act like something I'm not, Kallen? Is it something you do?" Milly asked, surprising Kallen.

'_As expected, the president's intuition is sharp. Luckily she doesn't realise how close she hit to home.'_ "No, madam," Kallen replied.

"See now?" Milly said, adding something devious to the punch she was making.

"But you know," Shirley started. She was busy arranging the glasses and polishing them, "it's not really the president's fault. I was the one who got too excited and showed the picture to Lelouch."

"True but if the President never insisted Nunnally dress up as Santa, that photo wouldn't have even existed." Kallen argued.

"Still…"

Seeing that this argument was going nowhere fast, Rivalz stopped blowing up balloons and gave a loud sigh, as if he was in pain. "Ah-hah, what came first, the chicken or the egg?" he asked.

"What's with that question?" Shirley asked as she and Kallen looked at him in confusion.

"It doesn't matter. This isn't philosophy 101." Kallen was getting impatient.

"Exactly," Rivalz tied the end of the balloon and attached it to a string. "I say both the Prez and Shirley are guilty; Milly for getting Nunnally to dress up and Shirley for taking the photo and showing it to Lelouch, right?"

"Well I guess I can accept that." After a few silent moments and no further arguments, Kallen moved on to the next big question. "Now, how should we try and stop Lelouch before things get out of hand?"

"I say we just let the situation play out and see what happens." Milly suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. It could become really dangerous!"

"You're too paranoid, Kallen. Lulu would never do anything to harm other students, even if they flirted with his sister." Shirley argued.

"How is that laughter not a sign of Lelouch doing something dangerous?"

"Because..." Shirley stayed silent for a moment. "Oh, that's right! If he wanted to do something to those guys, wouldn't he have done it on Christmas? But instead all his attention was focused on Nunnally! She's like a pacifier!"

'_I think that Lelouch was just unprepared that moment. Now he's had more time to make plans, and I fear for us all, but…'_ Kallen thought, but then an idea came to mind. "Wait, Shirley. What you just said, we can use that! Yeah, you're a genius Shirley!"

"Um, what are you talking about, Kallen?" Shirley asked, and Kallen replied with a rare, out-of-character devilish smile.

* * *

"Wait, you want me to do what now?" Tamaki asked into the phone. He couldn't believe his ears. Not only was Zero contacting them telephonically, which was very rare, but Zero specifically asked for Tamaki.

"Don't make me repeat myself, Tamaki." The baritone voice boomed through the cell phone speaker.

"Where am I gonna get stuff like that now?" he asked his leader.

"That's your job to figure out."

"But why me?" Tamaki asked, and a slight pause followed. Just when Tamaki thought the line was dead, Zero spoke up again.

"Because you're the only one I can trust with this. Yes, if it's you, then you'll definitely be able to do it."

"Zero…"

"Besides, I believe playing with explosive toys is your thing." Zero said in a light-hearted tone.

"HA?! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Leave the requested items at the designated time and place. I will send C.C. to pick it up from you."

"Oi, wait!"

"'Till next me meet."

"Hey, Zero!" a dead-tone dial rang in Tamaki's ear. _'That bast*rd!'_ Tamaki wanted to throw the phone down and crush it, but he remembered that the delivery details were on it.

"Something wrong Tamaki?" Oghi asked, having heard Tamaki conversing with someone on the phone.

"Yeah, Zero's acting weird."

"Weird?"

"Yeah, he's ordering me to gather explosives and stuff."

"Explosives? But we don't have any operation planned for the next few days." Ohgi pointed out.

"Don't I know it" Tamaki gave a loud sigh, close to banging his head against a wall.

"Think it's for personal business?" Ohgi though thought out loud. There was a pause before Tamaki burst out laughing.

"A personal life? Zero? Wonder what that would be like! I can't…imagine it…" Tamaki tried to get out in between his giggles, making for an almost incomprehensible sentence.

"Hey Tamaki, don't let Zero hear you laugh like that, he might get offended." Ohgi said. He didn't know if Zero wire tapped their base in order to listen in on their conversations, so he had to be careful.

"Imagine him as an everyday human! I can't help but seeing him chase after a cat who stole his mask or ordering his teachers into telling him what the questions on tests will be." Tamaki laughed.

"Like I said, quiet down. Come you have a mission right, get too it!" Ohgi pushed Tamaki out of the room, all the while looking around him cautiously, hoping that Zero did not hear their conversation. If he did, it would probably be the end of them all.

* * *

*Achoo*

Lelouch wiped his nose. _'Someone at the base must be talking about me. I guess I should have wire tapped the place after all. Though I doubt they will plan something against me right under my nose. It will be the end of them, and they know it.'_ *

* * *

"Pizza Hut, on the corner of Wide Street and Fast Food Lane, at 19h00." Tamaki read the directions out once more. After much blood and sweet, he had found the precious items Zero was looking for.

Entering Pizza Hut, Tamaki looked around until he saw his contact. She was dressed in Ashford Academy's girls uniform, and wore a ref, long-haired wig, which hid her funky green hair.

Tamaki stood behind the girl and cleared his throat. "These are the…" Tamaki started, but C.C. held up her hand for him to stop, and motioned to the chair opposite of her.

"Oh, thanks." Tamaki said. He was happy that Zero's 'left hand' was treating him to a slice of pizza. _'Maybe she's trying to get on my good side?'_ Tamaki thought gleefully.

"Not you. The box." The green-haired girl said as coldly as ever.

Tamaki's eyebrow twitched. _'The nerve of this girl….'_ Despite his arms trembling with anger, Tamaki managed to steadily put the box down.

"Thank you."

"''right"

"You may leave now."

"Oi!" Tamaki wasn't happy with the girls attitude, and it wasn't getting any better. "That's not fair! After I went through all the trouble of bringing those…toys here, can't you at least tell me what Zero will use it for?"

"I can't do that." C.C. said, for the first time looking up from the pizza brochure showing the specials of that month. "But trust me, I'll take good care of it."

Knowing that that was all the girl was going to say, Tamaki left without further inquiries.

" 'I'll take good care of it' " Tamaki impersonated C.C., making her voice much higher than necessary. "The hell's that crazy chick planning to do?" Tamaki couldn't help but wonder.

* * *

"Everyone here?!" Milly called to all the students who were gathered in front of the club ballroom where the New Year's party will be held. Loud cheers erupted, confirming Milly's question.

"Alright," Milly nodded in satisfaction. She looked around for the star of the show and saw that he was nowhere to be seen. _'Where's Lulu?'_ Milly thought. _'He's not normally one to be late. And he helped so faithfully with the decorations early on. Then he had to disappear somewhere? Where could he be?' _

Milly looked over to where Rivalz and a few more male students were prodding the bonfire on the green lawn in front of the student council building. 'O_f course I got permission for the bonfire! I mean pfft. Who do you think Milly Ashford is?' _Milly thought, grinning to herself.

She looked over to the bonfire and saw a few guys hitting on Lelouch's adorable little sister as expected. Milly anxiously looked around. _'Where are you Lelouch? If you don't hurry, Nunnally will be swept away!'_

Just as Milly thought this, Lelouch rushed onto the scene, carrying a questionable-looking box under his arm. A few guys stepped up to him, asking if they could carry the heavy-looking (well, at least heavier than anything Lelouch could handle), but he just shooed them away.

* * *

Lelouch, not caring for his fashionable late entry, set his eyes on the group of men surrounding his little sister. She was getting flustered, but luckily Suzaku was there to keep an eye on her.

'_That's perfect, Suzaku. Keep that up. It would have helped a lot if you would have become Nunnally's knight and protected her permanently, just like you are doing now.'_

Feeling momentarily assured, Lelouch moved on to the pile of fireworks and opened his box. Tipping the box over, a bunch of different fireworks from different shapes and sizes poured out.

"Oh, is that the _Bang Bang_ fireworks I ordered?" Milly asked, excitedly walking up to Lelouch.

"Signed, sealed and delivered." Lelouch said with a _'dashing, debonair smile'_.

Milly's smile also grew wider as she called everyone over. She told them each to take a cracker from the pile and that they were all to set it off at the same time. Lelouch, among the other student council members, distributed the crackers among the students.

Lelouch had already memorised the faces of all the male students who hit on his sister, and which of the crackers were part of the 'special delivery of high-quality super-sparkly" range of fireworks. Thus, Lelouch knew exactly which crackers to give which of the students.

As Lelouch was handing out the crackers, one girl came up to him and asked if he will be kind enough to set of some fireworks with her. Lelouch tired to gently turn down the girl, but she was surprisingly insistent. While Lelouch was busy, he failed to notice that one of his special cracker slipped away from the pile and into Rivalz's.

* * *

'_Oh?'_ Rivalz wondered, inspecting the cracker. Finding nothing wrong with it, Rivalz looked over to Lelouch and saw that he was still bus with that third-year girl. _'Well, seeing that Lelouch is busy, I suppose that I can give her this one instead.'_

With the naiveté of a monkey unable to open a banana, Rivalz handed to sparkler to Nunnally. Lelouch didn't notice anything.

* * *

"Alright, if everyone has their fireworks, please gather here!" Milly called. All the students excitedly gathered before the mini-stage. _'Of course there's mini-stage, what did you expect?'_ Milly defended herself, as if somebody could read her thoughts.

"Wait…" Lelouch said softly. He noticed that there was one guy yet to receive his cracker, and the only cracker Lelouch had left was the special one he prepared for Nunnally. _'Which means,' _Lelouch looked over at Nunnally and immediately recognized the cracker in her hands. _'Sh*t'_ was the thought fastest among the strategies and tactics running a race through Lelouch's head.

Lelouch frantically looked up at the clock tower on campus. There was less than a minute until midnight. Forming a more or less comprehensive plan in his head, Lelouch marked all the ones he knew he gave the mini-explosives to. All he had to do was get someone to, right before midnight, switch the two fireworks around. The black prince hoped that Suzaku would be closest to Nunnally, but for some reason it was…Rivalz.

'_He will have to do. __Sorry about this, Rivalz.' _Lelouch took the cracker in his hand and with careful aim, threw the cracker. With all of Lelouch's weight behind it, it hit Rivalz against the head. It had barely enough force to gain Rivalz's attention, but he turned around anyway.

As soon as Lelouch's eyes met Rivalz, he activated his power. "Rivalz, I command you to switch that cracker with my sister's and throw the cracker she has now high into the sky."

The red Geass sigils took form in Rivalz eyes. "Yes, my lord." Rivalz said and did as he was told.

"10…9…8…" the students began to chant.

As if in slow motion, Rivalz reached out to grab Nunnally's cracker.

"…7…6…5…"

One by one, the students lit up their crackers.

"4…3…"

Nunnally lit her cracker on fire, or in this case, her dynamite.

"…2…"

Rivalz snatched the cracker out of Nunnally's hand and put the other, already lit cracker in her hand.

"…1!"

He threw the cracker into the air, like a valiant superman who has overcome kryptonite.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Milly, Shirley, Kallen, Suzaku, Rivalz and the rest of the students cheered in merry unison.

Most of the fireworks went off without a problem. That was until a few others also started to react strangely. They all simultaneously burst into a frightful cloud of…colour smoke. The smoke, along with the many fireworks, created a rondo of colours on the sky, illuminating the New Year with a feeling of excitement, anticipation and hope. Or did it?

'_What is the meaning of this?' _Lelouch wondered. _'I'm glad Nunnally is safe and that those leeches got a good scare, but why is there smoke? Did Tamaki seriously get it wrong after all?!' _Lelouch didn't want to believe it.

* * *

"It was me." C.C. said, coming up from behind Lelouch.

"What?" Lelouch turned around to face his (normally) partner in crime. The Green Witch threw something at Lelouch. He reflexively caught it in his arms, but it exploded, covering the exiled prince in a girlish pink dust that made him look like the Pink Panther.

"Say Cheese-kun." C.C. said as she took a photo of the pixie-dust covered Lelouch.

"C.C.! What is the meaning of this? Did you really replace the explosives?" Lelouch demanded to know, trying to act aloof, but it failed miserably.

"The meaning, you ask?" C.C. repeated, and viewed the photo on the cell phone's screen. Satisfied, she showed it to Lelouch. "I thought I could use it as nice blackmailing material."

What bothered Lelouch more than the fact that C.C. replaced the explosives, was the second part of what she said. "Blackmail? Why would you need something like that?"

"Just in case." C.C. answered cryptically.

"In case of what?"

Silence followed by Lelouch sighing.

"It was also to save you." C.C. looked at Lelouch, and he merely lifted an inquiring eyebrow at C.C. "If those explosions-in-disguise you ordered really went off and a few students, not to mention your sister got hurt, how would you explain it, Lelouch? Don't do anything that would jeopardize your position!" _'And my position, too.'_ C.C. wanted to add but didn't, since they both knew that was what she was thinking anyway.

Lelouch didn't argue, _'but his silence means he's reflecting over his crimes'_ C.C. hoped.

"Now, go and apologize to Nunnally and the other students." C.C. said. Lelouch immediately dismissed the thought of apologizing to the male students. Although covered in rainbow snow, they were not off of Lelouch's pervert-radar just yet. He did go to Nunnally though.

"Nunnally" Lelouch started.

"Big brother, look" Nunnally held the sparkler up to Lelouch. "Even though it's dark, I feel something amazingly warm and bright. This is a firework right?"

Lelouch gave a soft by sad smile. "Yes, and hopefully one day you will be able to see with fireworks with your eyes again."

"Really?" Nunnally asked, excited.

"Yeah. Also, I'm sorry about tonight. Things turned out to be a little hectic tonight, and I almost hurt you during the confusion. I'm sorry we couldn't light the fireworks together."

"That's okay." Nunnally said with her Smile of Absolute Truth, which translated as 'Run for your Dear Life.'

"I'm sorry, Nunnally!" Lelouch apologized once more. "Please let me make it up to you on Valentine's day."

"Valentine's? Isn't that the girls turn to treat the boys?"

Lelouch looked as if he wanted to protest, but C.C. stepped in.

"You will have to wait until White Day, Lelouch. It's a month later."

"What?!" Lelouch exclaimed. "I can't wait that long. Please let me make it up to you now, Nunnally…!" 

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for reading, and thank you for the favorite and follow alerts_._

Thank you to reviewers A Random Person, Zarbapha, Yuuram2fangirl and any and all other reviewers!


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